Slipknot’s Taylor reflects on ‘insane’ debut

Frontman reveals band stole master tapes and mixed it themselves

Slipknot’s Corey Taylor says the band stole the master tapes to their 1999 self-titled debut as their management company didn’t understand their sound.

The frontman reckons their first album is the best they’ve ever made and also says their early days supporting the record were “fucking insane.”

He tells Noisey: “Clown, Joey Jordison, and producer Ross Robinson broke into the studio where the master tapes were, because we weren’t liking the mixes we were getting.

“They stole the tapes and mixed it themselves. I think Paul Gray was there too. I get a call from Clown saying, ‘We committed grand larceny – we just stole our own fucking album.’ They sat down and mixed it because no one else understood it.”

Taylor only expected to sell 200,000 copies of the album which went double platinum in the US and he recalls being stunned by its rise up the charts.

He continues: “People don’t understand just how fucking insane it was. Suddenly we’re the biggest band on Roadrunner, and no one prepared us. We didn’t know what the fuck was going on. We had shitty management at the time, and it was insanity.”